2013–14 Thursday TV Rankings Analysis
Written By: Al Steinberg, ''The New York Times'' June 1, 2014 Well, the 2013–14 TV season has officially come to an end, and as many of you may have heard, Thursday is being ranked separately by Nielsen this year, due to the massiveness of the ratings. Continue reading for an editorial analysis of the top ten shows' extraordinary seasons, in addition to some fun superlatives! *''Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 63.3, #1 – In its ninth season last year, 'Grey's Anatomy' averaged a 3.1, which is good for an aging broadcast series. The show peaked with a 9.4 average in its 2007 third season, with a 16.5 series high, and every year since, made massive declines (9.4, 7.2, 5.7, 4.8, 4.1, 3.6, 3.1). Season ten opened with a 12.7, 189% above season nine's 4.4 opener, and the show's highest rating in over six years. The season low was a 7.2, and the season high was a 100.0, which it notched along with 350 million viewers. Every week, more people tuned in, until finally the entire country was watching the finale. What a beast this show turned out to be – it's practically certain that no show will ever approach the success of it. *Two and a Half Men, CBS, 9.7, #2 – In its tenth season, 'Two and a Half Men' averaged a 3.9, which is outstanding for a comedy that old. The show peaked with a 5.9 average in its 2005 second season, which in all honesty, wasn't that amazing back then. Then for its season nine opener in 2011, the show spiked to a series high 10.7, marking the biggest scripted rating in years. The comedy was pretty consistent for its first ten years (5.6, 5.9, 5.2, 4.8, 5.0, 5.1, 4.9, 4.5, 5.0, 3.9). This season, it started off with a series low 2.0, but by the end of the season, was averaging a huge 9.7, with a series high of 40.6, marking its biggest season ever ''by far. The finale jumped into the 20's, so the show will hope to build on this momentum into the fall. *''1600 Penn, NBC, 9.6, #3 – This half-hour comedy opened in January as a mid-season replacement for recently-ended 'The Office. It premiered to a nice 4.0, making it NBC's biggest premiere in over a year. The show continued to rise, and spiked to a series high 9.0 within a few short weeks. In the 9:00 slot, ''1600 Penn'' dipped a bit due to competition from ''Grey's Anatomy (it fell as low as a 3.6), but after a prompt move to 8:30, the comedy jumped back up to series highs, and finished off the season with an unbelievable 30.2 and a ridiculous 9.6 average. NBC's bonafide hit will be moving back to 9:00 next year, where it will most likely take the number one spot. After all, it trailed runner-up '''''Two and a Half Men by only one tenth. *''Last Resort, ABC, 9.0, #4 – In its freshman season last year, this old-skewing drama averaged a dismal 1.4, and was practically cancelled. This year, the drama premiered to huge numbers, and despite some twists and turns (such as a series high 38.3 and a series low 2.5), settled into the upper 5's/low 6's for most of the season. Those numbers started to increase at year's end, though, and it topped the season with a huge 18.9. With 'Grey's Anatomy' completed, ABC will rely on this growing hit to anchor their Thursday night next year. *Scandal, ABC, 8.6, #5 – In its sophomore season last year, 'Scandal' averaged a solid 2.5, making it an obvious choice for renewal. This year it premiered to massive numbers, and reached a series high of 40.1, but as 'Grey's Anatomy' went bigger, 'Scandal' went lower. The Kerry Washington drama went as low as a 1.7, and with continuously horrible retention, ABC said enough is enough and pulled the dying series from the schedule. The show will burnoff the rest of its episodes during the summer, so enjoy the last few outings. *The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 7.9, #6 – In its sixth season last year, 'The Big Bang Theory' averaged a huge 5.4, making it the top entertainment program. This year, the comedy premiered to a low 2.5, but climbed up to a series high of 28.7 in the winter. The show went downhill from there, but by spring, had stabilized in the mid-high 5's. The last few episodes climbed into the double digits, and the comedy went out with a big bang (no pun intended). CBS's aging hit will hope to ride this momentum into its eighth season next year. *The X Factor, FOX, 5.9, #7 – In its second season last year, 'The X Factor 'averaged a weak 2.8. This year, the competition show premiered to a decent number, and stayed in the 2's and 3's for most of the fall. Simon Cowell's show started to rise, and eventually was anchoring FOX's night. It peaked at a 21.2 in the winter, but fell to a dismal 1.2 in February. After a few steady weeks, the show started to rise high again, and closed the season in the 18's. With the sharp increases, it's likely to land a comfy spot in the top three next season. *Glee, FOX, 4.8, #8 – In its fourth season last year, 'Glee' averaged a modest 2.3. This year, the dramedy premiered up from last season, and did pretty well for the majority of the season, peaking at a monster 30.0. Then spring came, and 'Glee 'started to crumble against the competition, dipping as low as 0.0. FOX was getting irritated that its nightly average was tanking, so they cancelled the show. FOX probably made a bad move, because with a simple timeslot switch, 'Glee' could have flourished into a bonafide primetime hit. *Elementary, CBS, 4.6, #9 – In its first season last year, 'Elementary 'averaged a solid 2.4. This year, the drama premiered heavily down, and remained modest for the majority of the first half of the season. Then the show started to rise to monster levels, peaking at a huge 15.3. Unfortunately for 'Elementary, it started to face increasingly strong competition, and it finished the season with a dismal 0.0. Luckily next year the competition will decrease, and the drama can hopefully resurge its dominance over the 10pm hour. *Person of Interest, CBS, 3.9, #10 – In its second season last year, ''Person of Interest'' averaged a decent 2.9. This year, the drama premiered to lows, but perked up as the season went on. It peaked at a massive 13.4, but as competition grew larger, the CBS procedural went to dark places. Against powerful episodes of ''Grey's Anatomy'', the drama crumbled, and it sat at the 0.0 line for multiple telecasts. CBS was getting agitated, so instead of shifting it to a new slot, they took out the big guns and pulled it from the schedule. ---- '''Superlatives: Top Show: '''Grey's Anatomy' ''Top Drama: '''Grey's Anatomy' ''Top Comedy: '''Two and a Half Men' ''Top Network: '''ABC'''